Role of Indian Knowledge System in Enhancing Academic Performance:
A Bibliometric Analysis
Preeti Jindal
Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Aditi Mahavidyalya, University of Delhi, India.
*Corresponding Author E-mail: preeti_phd@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT:
Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to examine scholarly research done to explore the importance of the Indian Knowledge system in promoting personal well-being and enhancing academic performance, creativity and overall productivity. It further provides directions for future research. Research Methodology: In this paper Lens.org database has been used to find and retrieve all existing and referenced papers published in English on relevance of Indian Knowledge system in academia. Based on bibliometric indicators, the rate of publication growth, the subject area, the top active countries, Institutions, Journals, and funding sponsors have been analyzed. Tools of Data Analysis: R Biblioshiny and Vosviewer have been used to analyze the data. Managerial implications: It aims to help researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to understand rate and pattern of inclusion of Indian knowledge system in higher education and provides recommendations for successful implementation of IKS in the education system. Originality/Value: The evaluation of selected papers yielded a major contribution and food for thought for both scholars and policymakers. Research Limitation: the research uses limited database of Lens.org with a time filter of 2010 to 2025.
KEYWORDS: Indian knowledge system, Indigenous knowledge, Traditional Knowledge, Higher education, Academic performance, Bibliometric analysis.
INTRODUCTION:
The term Indian knowledge system (IKS) refers to the “comprehensive and diverse knowledge systems comprehensive and diverse knowledge systems developed and nurtured in the Indian subcontinent over centuries. These System encompass traditional knowledge in various domains such as science, technology, medicine, arts and social organization deeply rooted in India’s cultural and philosophical heritage.” (Indian National Science Academy, 2018)
The Indian Knowledge System (IKS) represents knowledge from Vedas, Arth shastras, Upanishads and Puranas which offers vast repository of wisdoms on health, agriculture, business and social well-being. IKS is not merely collection of historical practices but is considered relevant in times for addressing contemporary challenges and fostering innovative solutions.
Recognizing its enduring value, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has strongly emphasized the integration of indigenous knowledge systems with contemporary education. This initiative aims to create a more inclusive, rooted, and multidisciplinary approach to learning in higher education. By adding traditional knowledge to college and university courses, students will get a chance to learn in a more well-rounded way—connecting the past with the present. Traditional practices like yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda help students manage stress, improve concentration, and maintain physical and mental health, all of which are essential for effective learning. IKS also encourages critical thinking and analytical skills through disciplines like Vedic mathematics, ancient logic, and philosophical texts. It can also inspire research and innovation by combining old wisdom with modern science. In fact, traditional Indian knowledge system offers profound insights and time-tested methodologies that can significantly enhance modern education. If we want to become the Knowledge Leader in this century and be the ‘Viśvaguru’, it is imperative that we regain a comprehensive knowledge of our heritage and demonstrate the ‘Indian way’ of doing things to the entire world. Therefore, there is a need to rejuvenate and mainstream Indian knowledge systems for the contemporary world.
LITERATURE REVIEW:
IKS and Academic performance:
The Indian Knowledge System (IKS) plays a significant role in enhancing academic performance by fostering holistic growth, cognitive skills, ethical values, and scientific temperament. By blending ancient wisdom with contemporary learning, students can achieve a well-rounded and enriched education experience (Sharma, 2018; Kapil, 2019). Below are some key contributions of IKS to academic excellence:
IKS introduces diverse teaching methodologies that cater to various learning styles. For example, traditional storytelling and experiential learning methods make complex concepts more accessible, fostering critical thinking and creativity among students (Joshi and Sharma, 2022)
The integration of IKS encourages interdisciplinary research, allowing students to explore connections between traditional knowledge and contemporary subjects (Kumar and Mehta, 2025). This approach not only broadens academic perspectives but also enhances problem-solving skills.
Cognitive and Memory Enhancement:
According to Singh and Verma (2021) vedic Mathematics enhances problem-solving speed and accuracy, aiding students in competitive exams and logical reasoning.
Yoga and Mental Well-being:
Yoga, Pranayama (breathing techniques), and meditation enhance focus, reduce anxiety, and improve academic performance. Studies (Gupta and Kumar, 2020) indicate that yoga-based learning enhances concentration, emotional intelligence, and self-regulation in students. A balanced mind and body ensure better concentration and productivity in studies.
Ethical and Value-Based Education:
Teachings from the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Buddhist texts instill discipline, ethics, and self-awareness, shaping well-rounded individuals (Sharma and Verma, 2025).
Ayurveda and Holistic Learning:
Traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda) emphasizes hands-on training in diagnosing and treating patients through observation and practical applications (Thakur and Mishra, 2018).
Gurukul System: Personalized and Hands-on Learning:
The Gurukul system focused on practical, application-based learning where students lived with their teachers (Gurus) and learned through real-world experiences. A study by Sharma and Saini (2024) highlights how mentorship and immersive learning environments enhanced memory retention and critical thinking.
Government Initiatives:
The Indian government has initiated several programs to integrate and promote the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) within the country's educational framework. As part of these efforts, numerous centers and cells have been established across various institutions.
These initiatives reflect the Ministry of Education's commitment to integrating India's rich traditional knowledge into contemporary education and research. The establishment periods range from 2020 to 2025, showcasing a progressive effort to promote and institutionalize IKS across the country's educational landscape.
NEED OF STUDY:
Since the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, there has been a noticeable increase in academic publications related to the Indian Knowledge System (IKS). This surge reflects a growing interest among scholars, educators, and policymakers in exploring and integrating India’s rich heritage of traditional knowledge into contemporary education. Against this backdrop, it becomes imperative to undertake a bibliometric study to uncover trends, patterns in the existing literature and to spot important research themes, active researchers and research institutions for future funding and planning.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
This study attempts to answer the following questions:
● What is trend of research on Indian Knowledge System in the field of academic?
● What are the leading and influential institutions, researchers, journals, articles contributing to this field?
● Which subject area and document type published more research work on Indian knowledge system.
● What is the frequency of occurrence of author-keywords?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The first step in bibliometric study is to decide on the appropriate database to be used to retrieve the relevant documents. In the present study lens.org was used for data extraction. Lens.org is a website owned and operated by Cambia, an autonomous non-profit social organization. Reasons behind the selection of Lens database are that it gives free access to scholarly work, publishes peer-reviewed high-quality work and covers a variety of research fields.
Search Strategy: The second step in bibliometric analysis is to build a valid search query that will retrieve as many documents as possible but with minimum irrelevant results. In the present study, the author developed an extensive and comprehensive search query to retrieve all potential documents focusing on IKS and Higher education. “Indian Knowledge System” OR “Indigenous Knowledge” OR “traditional knowledge” AND “higher education” are the keywords used to extract data files for current investigation.
Inclusion Criteria: A total of 650 data was exported from the database limiting country (India) and publication year (2010-2025) and considering document type i.e. Journal Article, Book chapter, review paper and conference paper. No restrictions on language were set. Meaning thereby Articles published in all languages in India were included.
Exclusion Criteria: Grey literature, editorial note, short survey were excluded from the study. Data published in countries other than India was also not included. Additionally documents that do not match the chosen keywords were removed.
Data Analysis: The data extracted was analyzed according to defined research questions using MS Excel and biblioshiny (Bibliometrix package of R) and data visualization was performed using the tool Vosviewer.
Data analysis was done in two parts. The first was a performance analysis that mapped growth patterns of publication; identified contributions made by universities, authors; and identified most prominent Journal published literature on the theme of IKS. The second component of analysis focused on science mapping that looked at the intellectual structure of the field through the construction of thematic maps.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
In this section results of bibliometrix analysis are presented. The analysis was carried out in such a way that it will answer all the formatted research questions.
Publications growth rate:
In the present study a total of 650 records published across Journal, Book and conferences from 2010 to 2025 were analyzed. Table 1 depicts the annual publication of documents related to the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) from 2010 to 2025. The trend (fig. 1) indicates a steady rise in interest and scholarly work on IKS over the years, with a significant surge after 2020, likely due to increased academic and governmental focus on indigenous knowledge and traditional sciences. The peak in 2024 suggests heightened research activity, possibly driven by policy initiatives, conferences, or funding boosts. However, the sharp decline in 2025 may indicate a shift in research priorities, funding reallocation, or other external constraints. This pattern highlights both the growing recognition of IKS and the need for sustained efforts to maintain research momentum in this field.
Table 1: Publication counts by years
|
Year |
Articels |
|
2010 |
14 |
|
2011 |
12 |
|
2012 |
18 |
|
2013 |
21 |
|
2014 |
25 |
|
2015 |
16 |
|
2016 |
33 |
|
2017 |
24 |
|
2018 |
31 |
|
2019 |
44 |
|
2020 |
43 |
|
2021 |
79 |
|
2022 |
69 |
|
2023 |
75 |
|
2024 |
132 |
|
2025 |
9 |
Figure 1: Yearly Publication Trend
Source: The graph was created by Biblioshiny
Source of Publications:
Given below table 2 and fig. 2 illustrates the distribution of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) publications across the top 10 journals, showcasing the interdisciplinary nature of IKS research. "Environment, Development and Sustainability" leads with 29 publications, emphasizing the strong link between IKS and sustainability studies. Other journals, such as "Psychological Studies" (18), "GeoJournal" (12), and "Journal of Nanomaterials" (12), highlight the diverse applications of IKS in psychology, geography, and material sciences. Additionally, the presence of journals focused on public health, economics, disaster management, and food security underscore the broad relevance of IKS in addressing global challenges.
Table 2: Publications distribution by top 10 Journals
|
Sources |
Articles |
|
Environment, development and sustainability |
29 |
|
Psychological studies |
18 |
|
GeoJournal |
12 |
|
Journal of nanomaterials |
12 |
|
BMC public health |
10 |
|
Journal of the knowledge economy |
10 |
|
Natural hazards |
10 |
|
Decision |
9 |
|
Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change |
9 |
|
Food security |
8 |
Figure 2: Most Leading and Influential Source
Source: The Graph was created by Biblioshiny
Publications by Institutions:
Figure 3 presents the number of documents published on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) by the top 10 organizations. The University of Delhi leads with the highest document count (Nath and Sahu, 2024), followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University and Banaras Hindu University. Other significant contributors include the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, International Food Policy Research Institute, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The presence of institutions like IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bombay indicates the involvement of technological institutions in IKS research. The Central Agricultural University’s inclusion highlights the role of agricultural studies in this domain. Overall, the results suggest that IKS research is multidisciplinary, with contributions from universities, medical institutes, and technology-driven organizations.
Figure 3: Top 10 Organizations with the highest Publication
Source: Lens Analytic
Subject Area Publications:
Given below fig. 4 displays the number of documents published across various academic fields in relation to the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). Geography leads with the highest number of publications, indicating a strong scholarly focus on spatial and environmental aspects of indigenous knowledge. Biology and Ecology follow closely, reflecting significant research on traditional ecological knowledge, biodiversity conservation, and indigenous environmental practices. Business and Medicine also have substantial representation, suggesting an interest in indigenous economic practices and traditional healing systems. Fields such as Sociology and Economics highlight the socio-cultural and financial aspects of IKS, while Agriculture and Political Science indicate research on indigenous farming techniques and governance structures. Computer Science, with the lowest document count, suggests a relatively limited but emerging interest in digitizing and preserving indigenous knowledge through technology. Overall, the distribution of publications underscores the interdisciplinary nature of IKS research, with strong ties to environmental, health, and socio-economic studies.
Figure 4: Publications distribution by top 10 research domains
Source: Lens Analytics
Authors having highest publication:
The results presented in fig. 5 highlight the most relevant authors in the field of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), particularly in the Indian context, based on their publication count. Kumar S leads with the highest number of publications (17), followed closely by Kumar A and Kumar P, each with 15 publications. Other key contributors such as Dwarampudi LP, Nagaprasad N, and Shanmugam R have each published 12 documents, indicating a significant impact in the field.
Figure 5: Top 10 Most Relevant Authors
Source: Biblioshiny
Visualization of Author keywords:
Fig. 6 illustrates co-occurrence network of author keywords in the field of the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) highlights key research themes and their interconnections. India is the central node, linking to significant topics such as traditional medicine, indicating strong research interest in Ayurveda and indigenous healing practices. Climate change and adaptation, especially in the Himalayan region, suggests a focus on how traditional knowledge helps communities respond to environmental challenges. The presence of indigenous communities as a key term highlights efforts to document and preserve their cultural wisdom. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic appears as a relevant theme, showing how IKS contributed to health-related studies. Overall, the visualization reflects a multidisciplinary approach, where IKS is studied in relation to health, environment, and cultural heritage, emphasizing its relevance in contemporary research.
Figure 6: Co-occurrence of Author Keywords
CONCLUSION:
In this research, a bibliometric analysis of Indian knowledge system is presented. 650 research articles were retrieved from lens database coving 2010 to 2025 time span. Research on Indian Knowledge System gained momentum from 2020 with the highest number of articles published in 2024. Most of articles were found to be published in Journal of Environment, Development and Sustainability followed by Journal of psychological studies and GEOJournal which reflects IKS’s multidisciplinary nature. University of Delhi has the highest publication followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University and Banaras Hindu University. The predominant subject area was Geography followed by biology. Kumar A has been observed to be top ranked author in the IKS publication. The most prolific researcher and research institutions can be potential contributors for future researchers in this field.
The conceptual structure analysis provides comprehensive overview of thematic focus in indigenous knowledge research in India. The most significantly explored themes are “Traditional Medicine”, “Covid-19 Pandemic”, “Climate Change”, “Indigenous Communities”, “Adaptation” and “Sustainable development”. It reflects evolving research priorities within Indigenous knowledge research in India.
IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION:
The insights from these bibliometric analyses underscore the growing recognition and integration of IKS in higher education. The present study provides following recommendations:
● Policy Implementation: Aligning educational policies with the rich heritage of IKS to enrich curricula and research agendas.
● Resource Allocation: Investing in research centers and academic programs dedicated to exploring and preserving traditional knowledge.
● Global Collaboration: Encouraging international research partnerships to broaden the impact and understanding of IKS.
By embracing the findings from bibliometric studies, higher education institutions can strategically enhance the integration of the Indian Knowledge System, fostering a more inclusive and diversified academic environment.
LIMITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH:
Through the use of bibliometric analysis, this paper has mapped out the structure evolution, and key themes embedded with research related to Indian Knowledge System. Certainly, this paper is not without its limitations. The use of only one database may have excluded valuable results, future studies will use other databases, such as WOS, SCOPUS etc. to examine more papers. Furthermore, there is need for in-depth investigations into the practical applications of indigenous knowledge in addressing current challenges, such as climate change, health issues, biodiversity loss, sustainable development. Future studies can undertake comparative analysis between India and other countries in respect of integration of indigenous knowledge with modern scientific methodologies. In addition, the future Indian knowledge research studies can involve collaborative partnerships among academia, Indigenous communities, policymakers and other stakeholders.
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Received on 11.09.2025 Revised on 07.10.2025 Accepted on 31.10.2025 Published on 11.05.2026 Available online from May 14, 2026 Asian Journal of Management. 2026;17(2):151-156. DOI: 10.52711/2321-5763.2026.00023 ©AandV Publications All right reserved
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